Isles pull away from Avalanche
NEW YORK -- Anders Lee scored twice in the third period Sunday night as the New York Islanders pulled away from the Colorado Avalanche for a 5-1 win at Barclays Center.
Lee scored an even-strength goal 81 seconds into the third before adding a power-play goal with 8:38 remaining. It was the fifth two-goal game of the season for Lee, who has 21 goals overall, three shy of his career high set in 2014-15.
Nick Leddy scored in the first, Ryan Strome scored the go-ahead goal in the second and Jason Chimera added a goal in the third for the Islanders (25-19-10), who won for the third time in four games (3-1-0) and the ninth time in 13 games (9-2-2) dating back to Jan. 16. New York pulled within one point of the idle Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers in the race for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Goalie Jean-Francois Berube recorded 26 saves in earning his second win in four starts this season.
Joe Colborne scored for the NHL-worst Avalanche (15-36-2), who have lost three straight (0-3-0) and 17 of 20 (3-16-1) since the holiday break.
Goalie Calvin Pickard made 28 saves.
Colborne scored on a semi-breakaway to give the Avalanche the lead 8:12 into the first period. Colorado left winger Andreas Martinsen out-lunged Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey for the puck at the New York blue line and dished ahead to Colborne, who changed direction as he hit the crease and tucked the puck into the right corner of the net. It was the first goal for Colborne since the season opener on Oct. 15, when he collected a hat trick.
The Islanders tied the score less than four minutes later when Leddy, whose momentum carried him backwards as he wound up, fired a shot past Pickard, who was screened by New York left winger Nikolay Kulemin jostling for position with Avalanche defenseman Francois Beauchemin.
The Islanders took advantage of a brief 5-on-3 opportunity to score the go-ahead goal with 5:14 left in the second. With 26 seconds remaining on Colborne's boarding penalty, Fedor Tyutin joined him in the penalty box after delivering a high stick to the face of John Tavares. New York scored just 18 seconds later, when Tavares sent a pass across the ice to Strome, whose shot sailed into the right corner of the net as Pickard was stuck to his left.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched RW Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) as well as D Scott Mayfield and C Alan Quine. Clutterbuck has missed the last five games and six of the past seven with a pair of unrelated lower-body injuries. Interim head coach Doug Weight said Clutterbuck skated this weekend and is getting closer to a return. ... G Jaroslav Halak, who opened the season as the Islanders' starter but was waived Dec. 30 and eventually assigned to Bridgeport of the AHL, won his 10th straight decision for Bridgeport on Sunday. ... The Avalanche scratched LW Rene Bourque (head), who has missed the last five games, as well as D Patrick Wiercioch. ... Avalanche D Tyson Barrie returned to the Colorado lineup after missing the previous four games with a lower-body injury.